Foreign Office Minister for Human Rights, Lord Ahmad, visited Israel and the West Bank this week, where he marked Yom Hashoah, met Israeli and Palestinian Ministers, and reaffirmed the UK’s commitment to the two-state solution.
The Minister said that he was “deeply concerned” about the situation in Gaza, but underlined “it is important to understand the role Hamas continues to play in fomenting the violence”.
He added: “The UK recognises that Israel has the right to protect its borders against Hamas and other terrorist groups but as I said to Israeli Ministers, they must show restraint and consider carefully its use of force in response to future protests”.
Lord Ahmad said that he was “humbled” to attend the Yom Hashoah State Opening Ceremony and had constructive meetings with Israeli ministers Tzachi Hanegbi and Ayelet Shaked “re-affirming the UK’s commitment to our bilateral relationship with Israel, and raising our human rights concerns”.
He said that he also met with Israeli companies working on counter terrorism technologies, “to discuss what more we can do together to prevent terrorist use of the internet”.
Click here to read Lord Ahmad’s statement about the visit in full.
